« prev. entry | next entry »

Yap-San Diego Ancestral Home: The House

- This is a description of the Ancestral Home of the Yap-San Diego Clan

by ultimatetravel 

(about Cebu City, Philippines, added on May 16, 2009)

[view gallery]

The Yap-San Diego Ancestral Home is referred to as "bahay na bato" which means a house made out of stone.

Yes, the house was made out of stone but not just ordinary stone but "coral stones" and they used egg white to let the coral stones stick with each other. Kinda odd but it works wonders, it is very evident in every churches built here in the Philippines during the Spanish era. All of the churches were made out of coral stones, and tons and tons of egg white used in order to have each stone stick.

The posts of the house were made out of Mahogany and mixed of other type of tree. Mahogany is one of the strongest, and best quality type of wood in the Philippines. The tables, chairs, bed and other furniture where made out of wood. Even the stairs and the floor (upper floor) were made out of wood.

Each item seen inside the house, there is a trace of being antique and some even faded its color due to time of which made it pretty amazing how the family preserved each item inside the house. 

The flowers which can be seen beside the image of Mama Mary were made out of fish scales. Now, the flowers looked great, they were just colored and beautified recently.

The source of water was a well which was 15 feet deep. Until now, there is water but such is used for the plants and not as drinking water.

Outside the house facing the garden, there is a boat where the plants are placed. Such boat was the same boat used during the Spanish era.  

There are a lot of natural calamities that came to Cebu, strong typhoons that flooded the Parian area and the whole Cebu and yet the house was kept standing after 3-4 centuries have passed. As to its counterpart houses made out of hollowblocks and fully painted already shown cracks at the sides or even inside the modern houses of today.

The Yap-San Diego Ancestral House "Bahay na Bato" withstand the test of time. A house once own by rich families during the Spanish era just open its doors to the public 3-4 centuries after.

A treasure, a Cebuano heritage worth visiting for...

Start from beginning | 1 - 4          Journal overview

1. May 15, 2009 Yap-San Diego Ancestral Home: The Tour (Cebu City)
2. May 16, 2009 Yap-San Diego Ancestral Home: The House (Cebu City)  ( 2)
3. May 16, 2009 Yap-San Diego Ancestral Home: Decision to Visit (Cebu City)
4. May 16, 2009 Yap-San Diego Ancestral Home: A Review (Cebu City)

Start from beginning | 1 - 4          Journal overview

Read about Cebu City in our travel-guide